Buttons
by SassyAngel
Summary: Cid's girl, you volunteered for this. Either you suck it up or start praying to Yevon. How did Rikku really get over her fear of thunder? GippalRikku


Disclaimer Don't own FFX or FFX-2, because if I did, Yuna wouldn't be in MY story.

**Buttons**

Rikku just absolutely hated thunder. Was there really anything more disturbing, scary, and utterly pointless than thunder? She was convinced there wasn't. So then why was she in the new Thunderdome as its first guinea pig?

Well, it wasn't that long of a story.

She wanted to get over her fears, and Gippal of all people decided that he could get a kick out of tormenting her by building an exact replica of the Thunder Plains in his backyard and inviting Rikku to use it. Yeah, she didn't know what was wrong with him either. Obviously the guy needed a new hobby.

"Cid's girl, if you don't get off of me in three seconds, I will have to shoot both your kneecaps so that you won't pounce on me again." It seemed his second hobby of choice was maiming perfectly good and appealing merchandise, even if it was in the form of a clingy spider monkey that would not let go of his front, no matter how hard he tried to pry her off. She assumed he used to it, seeing as how there were little leaping furballs everywhere, and that it wouldn't be so ridiculous if she did it, since who didn't like being tackled by a totally hot body of an Al Bhed? Obviously Gippal. The guy was probably blind in both eyes if he was telling her to get off of him.

Blind or not, she clung to him, eyes closed tightly and trying to tell herself that this thunder was synthetic, and that it couldn't possibly hurt her because she had made sure Brother had stayed on the airship and not anywhere near this fun time. Didn't want the same accident to happen twice, you know.

"One." She was sliding off of him, because even if she was scared of thunder, she didn't want to get shot in the legs because they were her best feature, when another loud clap of thunder slammed right into her ears. Screaming, she clutched to his leg, sobbing pitifully.

"Make it stop! Make it stop! I'll give you a gil!" She was crying, while Gippal tried to pry her fingers off his leg.

"Cid's girl, you volunteered for this. Either you suck it up or start praying to Yevon." Rikku gaped at him, eyes wide. Just for a moment, she was shocked too much to care if lightening rained down from the skies.

"Did you just tell me to pray to a tick? Right after I told you that I contracted a disease from one of those things, and if Yunie wasn't around, I would look like your hobbled, wrinkled, and pock marked grandmother?" Her shriek was both indignant at Gippal, and terror because thunder was much louder than she was. And it was a pretty fair competition.

"If you didn't go trouncing around in those skimpy pieces of fabric you call clothes, you wouldn't have had that problem. I don't see how your father lets you out of his sight dressed like that. And my grandmother is not pockmarked." Gippal said defensively, though otherwise he looked perfectly normal and unaffected as Rikku danced around in fear, trying to perform some sort of sacred ritual that would please the thunder gods enough so that they wouldn't make so much noise. Yunie had done it for her little concert, so why couldn't she?

"There's nothing wrong with how I'm dressed!" Rikku snapped back, sticking her tongue out at him childishly. "And your grandma is so pockmarked." Not the best comeback, but her mind was in a constant state of shock due to the loud noise. To make matters worse, Gippal took out a remote control and pressed a blue button, which caused the Thunderdome to go miraculously quiet for a moment before whirring monstrously and pelting them with very angry rain.

Sopping wet, Rikku spun on her heel, pointing an accusing finger at him as he calmly stood there, looking mighty pleased with this situation and the fact that, for a while, he could play deity with the remote that controlled this wretched evil place.

"You meanie! Why did you do that for?" She was going to kill him. She would have too, a long time ago, if he hadn't made her leave her weapons outside. Along with her targes, so the best she could do is take his head and start banging it against the metal walls. But his skull was so thick, she'd probably have to chip away at it for as long as the fayth had been dreaming.

"You said to make it exactly like the Thunder Plains. I'm nothing if not thorough, Cid's girl." Rikku was sputtering, fed up with the rain, thunder, and most of all, the one eyed smug looking Al Bhed that couldn't even have the decency to remember her name. He seemed to remember Paine's and Yunie's well enough, he even remembered Buddy's for crying out loud, but she was always Cid's girl.

She stalked right up to him, poking his chest rather forcefully as she glared down at him.

"My name is Rikku you thick head! R-I-K-K-U! Say it with me! Rikku!" She spat out, though Gippal didn't look impressed. Lazily, he pressed the yellow button and lightening started dancing around them like Lulu's moogles had conjured up the spells and were currently doing the mambo around them. This, needless to say, caused Rikku how to even say her own name as she clutched to the nearest thing that was more comforting than lightening. Of course, it was a hard contest, and she about threw herself at the lightening, but she'd ridden that shoopuff before and wasn't about to get back on.

"You're the devil." She cried, clinging to his wet clothes, not sure if she was bawling more or if it was raining more. "You are mean and cruel and your mom probably tried to ship sacrifice you to Yevon so that she didn't have to put up with you!" Gippal didn't seem at all affected, pressing a gray button, with resounding booms of thundering effectively drowning out her voice for at least the next two minutes.

"Listen Cid's girl, I know you find me irresistibly attractive, but can you try to fight off your hormones for a while? You're bony butt is digging into my thighs." Rikku squawked, indignant as she jolted off him. Lighting or no, she was never ever touching this man. She was not even going to say a word to him.

"My butt is not bony! It's very nice! I get compliments on it all the time!" Okay, after that she was never going to speak to him again. She turned and faced her back to him, hands on her hips. No matter how many times he pressed that gray button, she was not going to go in his general vicinity.

"Who would compliment that? I mean, it's like one of those old pieces of armor that knights used to wear. Pointy and best forgotten." Once she got her claws back, so help her, he would be praying to Yevon.

"Plenty of people!" She had lied about not talking, but c'mon! She had to protect her honor. And her butt's cuteness. Cause seriously, it was the best rear end to ever grace an Al Bhed princess. She was sure even Auron had appreciated its aesthetic value.

"They must have been blind." Rikku fumed, ready to slam the his head against the wall for next twenty years, when Gippal appeared in front of her, smirking and just as drenched as she was. She didn't know what it was about blondes, she had even had a bitty crush on Tidus because of his hair color, she was sure, but seeing Gippal's hair plastered around his face just made her tingle. But she was still mad as a hornet at him.

"You're worse than the thunder, always insulting me! You're a heartless prick, you know that? I hate you!" Rikku complained, waving her arms around angrily.

"Cid's girl," He started, no doubt to antagonize her yet again, but she wasn't going to have any of it. She'd put up with him enough.

"Rikku, you stupid idiot! My name is Rikku! Not Cid's girl, not Yuna's cousin, not that one Al Bhed chick, and definitely not Shelia, but Rikku! Get it right!" She was storming out of there, because, blonde hair or not, him opening his mouth just rubbed her the wrong way. She couldn't stand another minute of him.

"Rikku." She was surprised when he grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. She readied a fist, but he leaned forward and pressed his lips right onto hers. That jerk! She was tempted to bite his lips right off his face, big improvement she could tell you, but then he deepened it gently, pressing her against the slick door of the Thunderdome. She wasn't sure if it was the slippery surface on her back or the lips on hers that was giving her a hard time standing up.

One hand had threaded itself into her hair, the other snaked around her waist so that she couldn't move even if she wanted to. The fist she would have used to sock him in the mouth he was using oh so artistically right now was pressing him closer to her. She couldn't say that she'd never been kissed before, with a body and cute personality like hers, but those boys had obviously never been Gippal.

Despite him teasing her about them being a 'couple' to Yunie, she had always thought that he saw her as a little sister or big annoyance. Right now, neither answer seemed plausible. You didn't do anything a big annoyance told you to do, and you definitely would not kiss your little sister like this. At least, she hoped not.

Then he had pulled away from her, panting, the one eye that was normally a hazel color a lustful green. The swirl of his pupil drew her in intoxicatingly, and she might have kissed him again if he hadn't opened his mouth.

"Congrats Cid's girl, I think you're over your fear of thunder. I must have pressed that button a million times, and you didn't even flinch."

That's when Rikku stomped out, got her weapon, and proceeded to beat some sense into his thick skull.

Author's Notes Just a fun alternative to the whole 'camping three days out in the Thunder Plains' story. Besides, Gippal/Rikku are so cute. Any comments welcome!


End file.
